The Band Directed by George Gruntz
Recorded Live at the Schauspielhaus
MPS Delta (Holland) 1976
5D 064-60186 (LP)
sleeve : VG+(wear on sides and corners)
media : EX-/EX-(some light noise)
This 1976 album is by The Band, led by Swiss jazz pianist George Gruntz, who served for many years as the musical director of the Berlin Jazz Festival and released high-quality works on ECM in addition to directing the Concert Jazz Band. The big band features a stellar lineup including Alan Skidmore, Charlie Mariano, Franco Ambrosetti, Daniel Humair, Dom Um Romao, Peter Herbolzheimer, Palle Mikkelborg, Howard Johnson, and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. It contains live recordings from a concert held at the Schauspielhaus in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1976. The album showcases a magnificent sound, combining a rich brass ensemble with Gruntz's own Arp 2600 synthesizer. A2, where Mariano's soprano and Ambrosetti's flugelhorn float like mist, and A3, where Romao's primitive Brazilian percussion and Johnson's tuba create a mysterious soundscape, are also superb.
A2: Epitaph for a Friend
A3: Nix Tango-Time
B2: El Commendador